6 X 2 Questions with Colin & Brandon The Creators of TWWXD

To know class in comics, one needs to look no further than Twxxd.com. If you have run into the brothers Oliver on the social media landscape you already know what awesome guys they are. Twxxd is a webcomic powerhouse that does things a bit differently. Not only do they have their standard webcomic, but the brothers Oliver also create other type of webcomics on the very same site. Twxxd appeals to the nerd in all of us with brilliant takes on pop culture. I feel that these Canadian bastards write comics just for me, with each and every update making me wish that I could come up with some of their witty observations. Another treat that sets these gentlemen apart from other web comicers is their podcast. Every Monday I look forward to downloading their newest 45-minute-or-so conversation with other web comicers. After you read this interview, go to their website and download a couple of these podcast episodes and find out more about gaming culture and the webcomics you read. These guys work ethic and creativity make me proud to be a part of the web comics community.

Colin: The name Twxxd came from the game Gauntlet: Dark Legacy for the N64. For those who haven’t played it, it was this horrible mindless hack’n’slash game made great by the four player co-op mode, a relatively rare thing in those days.

When a player wanted to start a new level, they had to stand on the appropriate glowing circle on the hub map. All players had to move to the circle in order for the next level to start. So if someone was taking their sweet time getting there, or just being a dick, the game would remind all involved that someone wanted to depart by saying something like “Green wizard is read to exit”. Except the audio quality was HORRIBLE, so for the longest time, we thought the guy was saying “Green wizard is really Twxxd”. It became a thing.

Looking back, it probably wasn’t the best name for a web comic. Nobody remembers how to spell it, let alone pronounce it. But here we are today!

Brandon: That’s the back story. As for the why, Twxxd is all about having fun and laughing and ridiculous things based on whatever we felt like. It’s a creative outlet for the both of us and we’re hoping people have a good time reading it.

The OG: Brothers Oliver! You are in fact brothers serving your time in the great white north. Do Canadians actually hail Alpha Flight as gods or does Marvel need to stop trying to make people think they are Canada’s sweethearts?

Colin: Alpha flight had its moments. They were brief. Personally I remember looking back and thinking they were too damn kitschy to take any pride in. Besides… Wolverine is all the Canadian pride we need.

Brandon: Yeah, Wolverine is the only one that matters, and he left those jokers for a real team. Alpha Flight can lick my hairy nut-sack. They’re all B-list super heroes except maybe Sasquatch when he’s being badass.

The OG: You both weren’t friends until later on in life. What made you both decide to team up and take it to the realm of web comics by storm?

Colin: The web comic, originally, was actually a means to an end. The original project we wanted to team up on was a graphic novel… and hopefully that’s not the last you’ll hear of it. The web comic was meant to be something of a warm-up to that, and we’ve just been thoroughly enjoying it ever since. It’s just in the past year that we’ve gotten a lot more “serious” about it, when we transitioned from thinking we were funny, to being told we were actually funny.

Brandon: Wait, shit, we’re funny? Say WHAT?
We were already friends before starting the comic. It was college and a lot of gaming that helped to do that. We derive a lot of inspiration from all the times we hang out and game.

The OG: Your website contains a variety of content that I admire. Various forms of web comics and even a podcast. When and why did you decide that you wanted to not just do the same type of comic each and every week?

Colin: I’m super happy that’s working for you, because sometimes I worry it comes off as a lack of focus. There’s an easy explanation, actually. I believe we spoke briefly in our podcast with you guys about how to deal when there are multiple creators involved, and the occasional… uh… “Conflict” that can ensue. Well MF office is Brandon’s personal output, and TWT is mine. Except for the occasional spell check (and toy-loan ;)), we don’t collaborate on those veins. There’s no risk of feeling censored by one another, and now, it’s just become a treat to see each other’s content just like we’re reading any other comic. So what you’re really seeing is the comics we do independently, and the comic we do together. And the podcast is just good old fun :).

Now, all that said we probably DO have some focus issues… but in a good way! We’ve got an absolute ton of content we’d like to share, and it doesn’t all fit into the various mediums we’re currently using (wink wink). We’ve also got some exciting mini-series coming (as soon as we can make them) that are going to be completely different from everything else we’ve ever done. Stay tuned!

Brandon: Thanks! I need a lot of different creative outlets to keep me going too. I like drawing in a lot of different ways and MF office is kind of my “experimental” outlet. Writing and drawing a comic all in one is a very daunting thing, and I have nothing but respect for those that do both and manage to do it more than once a week.

The podcast just kind of started out as our goofy conversations being recorded, eventually with us talking about news items and such. But once we started talking to other people…that’s where things got fun and interesting I think.

The OG: I religiously listen to your Podcast every week (especially episode 53). If Saeed from the Frumps were to say “podcasting or web comics! Choose one or I’ll go balls deep in you!” which would you both choose?

Colin: I would say, “Saeed, do what you have to do, man”, and assume the position. For realz though, if we had to drop something, it would probably have to be the podcast… and we LOVE doing the podcast, so it would be hard. Of all the work we do for the site, it is the thing that feels the least like work. I’m happy to hear that other people are enjoying them so much, but honestly, we would do them even if no one listened (which was true for a long while…). After all, they’re really just conversations with us and awesome people about stuff we like. They just happen to also be recorded and posted on the Internet.

But the comic is our creative output. It’s our craft. I feel like if we stopped I would risk that side of myself stagnating, and becoming a generally less happy person.

Brandon: Hmmm…Saeed would have to buy me dinner first at least.

They’re both a really big part of who we are I’d say. At the same time, the comic is the big one, and like Colin said, the podcast the icing on the cake. I’d do whatever I have to for the comic to keep going, even if it meant (sadly) the podcast would have to wait.

Discussion (17) ¬

I can’t believe you guys said you were going to interview me for my hit webcomic, twwxd.com, about GoBots and Arm Fall Off boy, and then you spent the entire time talking to those wanky Canadians about twxxd.com!